


Prince of Embers

by ChampionOfNyx



Category: Young Justice
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:28:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29641644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChampionOfNyx/pseuds/ChampionOfNyx
Summary: No one knew what to say as they watched for days, the three sibling glued to screens, watching their home be torn apart.No one knew what to do when they heard muffled crying and whispered arguments in foreign words through walls late into the night.They tried to get them to eat, to talk, to do something but wished they weren’t in a country that wasn’t their own.But they couldn’t.Because what is a prince but a patriot born and raised.And what can a patriot do to put out growing fires when he was only ever taught to start them.OrWhere the Outsiders didn't challenge de Lamb's coup and Markovia is thrown into a Civil War Brion runs away to fight in.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people of the internet. I was rewatching season three and the ending arch of Brion's story still gives me ungodly amounts of rage, so here I offer an alternative ending to the season for my own sanity. There is a little more in the notes at the end, so happy reading!

**Prologue**

It had been two weeks since Fredrick de Lamb seized the throne of Markovia in a coup. One week since all reporters were cast from the country, and any foreign diplomat challenging the actions of the new regime was declared persons non grata. Four days since reports of resistance came in. Three since the first picture of a small town is nothing but a heap of smoldering ash, its chapel spires still crumbling. _Harboring traders._ The news had said, a justification that felt heavy in the mouths of everyone who spoke it. 

The Markov siblings had been kept from leaving the Hub, only having access to the watched town or happy harbor for their safety, left with nothing to do but watch their homeland tear apart. The Outsiders welcomes the former King into their home with no hesitation, the prince and princess never leaving his side. They were finally together again, finally a family, but at what coast?

“Do you think we should turn off the T.V.?” Ed asked from his place at the kitchen island in a hushed voice. “That can’t be good for them.” He remarked, peering subtly over the mug of coffee in his hands to the mass of limbs huddled on the couch watched the morning news roll in. 

“That may do more harm than good,” Garfield responded, starting from the plate of toast in front of him to the living space. “I can’t imagine this is easy for them. I think they just need some time you know. To come to terms and everything.” A quiet morning soon bleed into the afternoon and the large suite was filled with conversation and training. 

“Come on Tara, we’ve talked about this, you need to think before the move in a fight. Recklessness will get you hurt.” Artemis commented, reaching to pull the smaller blonde off of the mat where she lay sprawled out. 

“I knew.” She spat out, requesting the offered hand and vaulting herself to her feet, arms raised to continue the match. 

“You know?” The woman questioned, worry spiraling through her mind as she looked at the thin girl before her, all the fat she had gained since her rescue quickly shedding away in the past weeks. “Than prove it.” 

Tara had, to almost everyone's surprise, taken her brother's temperament, the two siblings changing behavior as easily as a garment. The typically quiet girl was always filled with too much rage that fought against the restraints of her better judgment, winning every time. The team resident's hot head barely uttered a whisper most days, becoming a ghost of the young man he once was. The boy himself sparing similarly with conner across the large room. 

“I know this has been a lot.” The Superboy started to say as the redhead swayed in front of him, recovering with a blow to the gut. “But I need you to pay attention, we can’t- I can’t have you going out into the field without your mind in the fight.” That was what everyone had been telling them since they got benched two weeks ago. That they were a liability in the field, that they placed themselves and their teammates at risk, and until it was made clear they could fight without being distracted, they wouldn’t be tagging along on any missions.

That wasn’t the whole truth. Yes, Black Lightning had pulled Gar aside not long after the news had hit that he needed to keep an eye on the Markov's, and that included no missions. But that wasn’t all. That there Zeta accesses out be limited to three locations. That the bioship or sphere wouldn’t be taking commands to form them. That someone would need to knew where they are at all times. That the Markov siblings would be killed the moment they stepped onto Markovian soil. And they were in enough pain right now to try. 

Sparing finished, leaving both Tara and Brion bruised and soar, retreating to their rooms to change and shower. But Brion didn’t do either. The boy flopped on his bed and pulled out his phone, pulling up every picture taken from his country since the coup. The coronation of a false King. The burning of his family’s portraits, the green, and gold flag barren eagle slowly turning to ash. Smoldering remains of school, houses, churches, every place that resisted the rule of his uncle. 

Anger unlike any he had felt before grew inside of him. It wasn’t reckless like when his sister was taken, or load when his parents were murdered. This was something else. This was righteous. There were his people, and it was his job to protect them, no matter what those around him said. 

When he told Conner he wanted to go home, the man stopped any plans the prince had formed in his head. “You are too angry right now to think about this.” He was told. “You’ll die if you return. Think about your brother and sister. What will they do if you die, Brion?” 

_They will know I was doing my duty._ He had wanted to respond, _that I was protecting our people, no matter if I was a lost cause._ But he didn’t say any of this. Only went back to his room for the rest of the night, fiddling with the thoughts in his mind. 

That night he woke from dreams of bloodied walls and burning sheets and looked to the clock that read 03:13 before finding the warmest clothes in his closet and pulling them on a quietly as he could. Then moving to the small desk and writing out an apology that read too much like a eulogy, and filled a bag with things he could find that seemed important. 

He left for the watchtower that night, knowing that in a small lab aboard the large satellite, there was still a mother box. There was a way for him to get home. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, so there is not a set map of Markovia and where is it is in relation to other real work countries, so here is the one I made using what little information we knew about the nation. Though there are some other problems like pre-existing borders and historical significance I am just gonna slide all of that under the rug for now because I needed a reason for the world to care about Markovia and access to the Black Sea typically does that. Cause Geopolitics is fun and not complicated at all! (They said incredibly sarcastically) Hope this helps, and happy reading!

### 

### Chapter 1

Frozen air tore through his too-light jacket as Brion stumbled up the last of the major inclines. Motherbox had dropped him off within the Teipengagal Mountains, which he could only imagine was his punishment for not specifying a location, maybe his punishment for running away too. But he didn’t have time to think about that. No, now he needed to get down into the valley below. From all reports, that is where the resistance was popping up the most, where he could find like-minded people to help him get his country back. 

While he had been walking there past three days Brion had been trying, to no avail, to figure out what he was going to say to these people once he found them. _Hi, it’s Brion Markov here, know I have been away for a little while but you really can’t blame me because of the whole Banishment thing. Anyways, I am here to beat the living shit out of my uncle and help you people save our people from the horror show that is no doubt being released on them. So, where do I sign up?_ Didn’t sound right, but it was all he had come up with. 

When Conner and Megen took him in, they kind of had to. In a moral standing, they could have just left him standing in the palace courtyard naked and caked with stone if they wanted to. But the resistance had to reason to take him in, to let him fight with them. He had, wither of his own choice or not, abandoned his homeland. He wasn’t his prince anymore. 

That realization that he came to two weeks ago left him a walking corpse for days, unable to do much more than fall deeper into the shame it had caused him. But here he was, and he was going to help his people or die trying if it was the last thing he did. It’s was the only way to gain forgiveness for everything he had not done. 

He didn’t have much time to think on it more though, for when he finished trekking up the last of the foothills, he stared down at a small town nestled between the mountains and the woods that filled the valley below. Sliding down the rest of the snow-covered hill he walked towards the town square. The streets were busier than he had imagined them to be, people pushing past one another to get to places everyone in a hurry. 

“Hey,” Brion reached an arm out into the masses as they pushed around him, grabbing onto a women's wrist, fear twisting her face. “What is happening?”

“What is happening?” She asked, bile-filled his moth as she glared up at him. “God, where have you been living?” She spat out the words before shaking free of his grip and leaving him behind. He hadn’t dared ask anyone else, rather choosing to stay close to the building, watching, trying to figure out what was going on. 

Everyone was carrying something. Sacks of foods, bags of clothes, children, as they moved throughout the town square. Just beyond the last of the building, Brion noticed they were loading an assortment of cars, people wearing green fabric tied around their arms stood counting people and goods. 

He pushed his way into the flow and eventually made his way to one of the men who weren’t that much older than he was. “Hello.” The boy looked at him and noticed he wasn’t carrying anything like others were. 

“We are not loading able-bodied yet, you’ll have to wait.” The impatience in his voice bordered anger as the person behind Brion moved past him. 

“Wait no, please, what’s going on. I came from the mountains.” 

The man in front of him had tousled blond hair sticking out of his jacket’s hood, and muddy green eyes that took on a look at Brion and knew he wasn’t lying. That Brion didn’t have a single clue the danger they were all in. 

“The Barron is trying to snatch up towns over the mountains so he can have somewhere to retreat to once he moves forces farther into the valley to cement his claim.” The man said, looking off at the people surrounding them as he quickly talked. “We need to get these people out of here before this place gets flattened.” 

_Two weeks,_ Brion thought, _and this is already what my home has come to._ “How can I help?” 

“If people hand you something, put them in the back of front trucks, they hand you kids put them in the middle, and try not to scare them.” 

And so that is what Brion did for what seemed like hours until people slowly began to stop bringing supplies and started jumping into the vehicles themselves. The man from before found him again and said it was time to board one of the cars, that he would be in the back with the fighters for protection. 

“I’m a fighter.” He looking down at his gloved hands. “I can protect them.” 

“Look, kid. We can talk later, but you don’t have a weapon and we don’t have any to spare.” 

“I don’t need one.” 

“You're a Noslīlika?” He asked, looking for some kind of recognition. “One of the kids the Barron took and changed?” 

“Yes, I don’t need a weapon.” 

The man looked him over once more before jumping into the bed of one of the last trucks that hadn’t left yet and signaled for Brion to do the same. “My name is Aleksis by the way.” He said as the truck began to move. More people around his age jumped in the back, hunting rifles slung over their backs. 

“Who's the new kid?” One of the new arrivals asked upon settling down into the bed of the truck breathing heavily. 

“We picked up a Noslīlika who wants the help. Didn’t get his n-”

“Oh really?” The boy, curly brown hair and blue eyes younger them Brion turned his attention to him, eyes bright with curiosity. God, he was a child, why the hell was he carrying a gun? “I’ve only met one of you guys, and Audra doesn't talk much. Sh-”

“Neki, leave him alone.” Aleksis scolded, gaze falling from car to car looking for something, or someone. “Speaking of Audra, I don’t see her.” Looking around, Brion noticed they had driven past the town limits and into the dense wood, driving along a paved two-lane road. 

“She’s staying a little behind, making sure everyone gets out.” A girl that jumped in with Neki spoke up with nowhere near as much excitement we the boy. “You look familiar.” She commented, her eyes moving along every inch of Brion's face. 

He was waiting for this moment ever since he entered the town, but between the chaos occupying everyone’s mind and the hood he had pulled snuggly around his head, no one had taken recognized him. And why should they? “What did you say your name was, _Noslīlika_?” Her voice pulled the mood of the bed down as she gripped a knife secured by her thigh, the two boys tugging slightly on the riffles around their backs.

“Brio-”

An earth-shattering _boom_ drowned out his reply we the truck jostled them around, the earth beneath them shaking with an impact. The explosions kept coming as they drove on, sending echoes through his head as the ringing amplified with every collision. The tremors finally stopped, signaling the end of the bombing, or what he believed to be a bombing. 

Looking back through the road, he could see remnants of the town smoldered, tanks and troops barring the normally comforting uniform of the Markovian Military began looking for people among the rubble

The thought has entered Brion’s mind before he could stop it. _Did they get everyone out?_ He knew little rural communities like this in the valley were fairly small, but still, there was no way they could fill its population with all of the number of cars they had, especially with all of the supplies they loaded as well. 

Gloved hands pulled his face towards Aleksis as he spoke, no words reaching Brion's ears. Finally, he pointed down the road to where a single girl in a grey jacket and boots stood, facing a line of incoming soldiers. He jumped from the moving truck with the others as the air around them heavied, and suddenly, the world filled with light.


	3. Chapter 2

* * *

Chapter 2  
For a moment, the world seemed to still around Brion as energy filled the air. The earth beneath him called to it, sending small jots of energy through his body, rattling his mind and body awake from the haze that had taken over. Off in the distance, the broken remnants of two bombers fell fast to the ground below where the grass was scorched in a starburst shape.  
It took him a minute to release what had happened, what this girl must have done. She could control lighting, and she had just called two bolts down to the ground the planes. Brion staggered closer to her, to get the girl's attention, ask what he should be doing. But the sound of gunfire quickly halted his movements, something behind him shoving the boy onto the cold road.  
Advancing troops had reached the start of the tree line and were shooting into the road. Twisting, Brion saw that it was Aleksis that had pushed him out of the incoming fire, the older boy still laying on top of him. “So, Noslīlika, meet Audra.” Aleksis grunted out as the two of them crawled into the brush that lined either side of the road. Around them, others did the same, some returning fire on their weapons but all Brion could do was watch the girl, Audra, continue to stand in the middle of the road, bullets stopping in front of her, eyes trained at the sky above.  
“Does she realize she is getting shot at?” Brion practically yelled over the sound of a firefight.  
“Honestly kid, I got no idea. She’s a little bit crazy, but I think all of you Noslīlika are.” He sighed out, pulling the rifle off of his shoulder. Brion looked to the field before them, soldiers clad in uniforms that would have once brought him comfort now shooting at him, and tanks lining up to charge forward. “No offense.” Aleksis corrected himself.  
“Non taken,” Brion said, steadying himself to jump forward and hoping he didn’t get shot. That would put a pretty early end to any plans he helping he had made. He lunged forward, out of the safety of the bush and into the road, digging his hands unto the asfault that cracked under them. A familiar twist in his gut sent a row of magnum towards the advancing line and spread under the treads of their tanks, causing the machines to slink slightly as they began to break down under the heat.  
The gunfire, from both sides, stopped for a moment as all eyes trained on him. That for short-lived though. All of the bullet fauter that had been trained on the girl suddenly focused on him, a wall of lava forming in front of him just in time.  
The distraction must have given Audra the moment she was waiting for because with a flick of her arms arches of air surged forward, knocking the soldiers down to the ground. All around Brion, resistance jumped from the brushes and began sprinting back to the trucks that had dropped them off, in the distance the backs of the retreating evacuation barely visible through the dense forest that seemed to curve around the road, protecting it.  
Brion was forced into the back of a truck by Aleksis that followed in beside him, Audra jumping in right as they surged forward, leaving the ruined town and the fallen soldiers behind. It took all three of them a moment to cough our breaths, their lungs not ever getting enough of the chill mountain air that now hung heavy with the smell of gunfire and smoke. “You good?” Aleksis asked, gripping onto Brion’s forearm.  
“Yeah.” He whispered a reply, mind too preoccupied with the girl in front of him.  
She looked his age, grey hair clung to the sweat on her forehead, eyes wandering around them. Looking from truck to truck, her lips silently counting the people in their beds, before finally settling on him. A look of complete neutrality overtaking haunting silver eyes.  
“Aurda, this is-”  
“Brion Markov.” She cut in. Aleksis’ hand that, which Brion hadn’t noticed was still gripping on him, fell away and the boy slowed moved to the other side of the truck, face contorted with an array of emotion Brion couldn’t pin down. “What are you doing here?”  
Her accent was thicker than his own, and yet Brion recognized the authority that seemed to fall from every word. He wasn’t being given a choice but to answer. “I came to find the resistance, to help any way that I could.”  
“Really?” She asked, mockery dripping from every word. “You think a southern Prince like you knows anything of battle? Though you could sweep in here and save us?” Aleksis kept his head down, but didn’t interject, rather stared daggers forward so string Brion thought whoever was driving must have been able to fell it through the cabin.  
“I didn’t think it through.” Brion didn’t recognize his voice as it came out broken and hollow. “I just couldn’t watch it all happen safely an ocean away. Markovia is my home.”  
“You felt bad?” She asked. “Felt like throwing up every time you watched the news? Couldn’t breathe at night when you remembered your parent’s faces and how disappointed they would be in you?” Brion couldn’t argue against what she was saying or even try and defend himself, because all of it was true. “Brion, moving forward.” Audra waited until he met her eyes and held them there, insuring her words would reach him. “Don’t make decisions out of shame. Remember that, and this won’t suck as much, for all of us.”  
Her intent must have hit Aleksis sooner than Brion, for the older boy started protecting. “You can’t be serious, letting this pampered brat stay here with us. If de Lamb finds out, which he will after today, he’ll hit us even harder. How could you put everyone here in danger for him.” He practically spat out the last part, and with credit to Audra, she allowed him to finish.  
“I know what de Lamb will do, but I also know that there is a lot of Nobility that don’t like him, but trust us even less.” And Brion finally understood. They were going to let him stay, not because they believed he wanted to help, but he could be useful to him. The notion couldn't find a place in his mind, but he would have to deal with it, at least they weren’t sending him away. At least he could fight. “With his face, we can start doing more than evacuating town after town. We may have a chance to get rid of de Lamb for good, and have a whole country at the end.”  
“Not all of us want a whole country,” Aleksis mumbled and went back to glaring ahead, but didn’t question Audra anymore. Brion knew what he meant though. Throughout his childhood, one of the many problems that had plagued his father’s rule was separatists in the north wishing the leave the crown and form their own state. The mountains, Teipengal range, the cut-through of his country separate the agricultural north from the ports of the south. Most of the higher-class lived in the southern coastal region while the north was comprised of rural communities, the mountains used to be difficult to cross, limiting the trade and troops that could be sent into the valley. Even with trains and planes capable of transporting goods and people, there was still a centuries-old wealth gap that was proving difficult to close, and people in the valley blamed the crown for it. If it wasn’t de Lamb that started a civil war, Brion had no doubt there would have eventually been one.  
“So, Princeling?” Audra pulled the boy from his thoughts that had overtaken his mind. “We are gonna need to make some rules, how does that sound?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “We are heading to St. Hásán and dropping these people off it was only ever populated by nobility wanted to get away into the ‘country’ and all of them have fled fearing violence, so the resistance is practically occupying it. We are not one singular group, so you will need to stay close to us. There have been different organizations popping up since the reds left that want all kinds of different things, but we’ve agreed to work together for now to keep as many people we can safely.”  
She went on explaining that everyone here had been in some way affected by the violence that had not begun two weeks ago. The military, acting on de Lambs orders, had been targeting outposts for months, leaving the people to live in surrounding areas fleeing in fear of their safety. Wich had been for the best. The moment de Lamb had official names himself Sovererian of Markovia, the outposts began sending planes and troops out, capturing agurcultrial centers and anywhere that held a strategic advantage for holding the rest of the northern valley, killing anyone that had gotten in their way. Many of the people fighting now to get people to safety are ones whose homes or families had already been destroyed.  
They didn’t have any grand plan to overthrow the government, though the look in Audra’s eyes told Brion otherwise, and was only interested in getting people out of the conflict zone for now. And that the best way he could help, was to shut up and do as she tells him. Brion agreed, he didn’t care about the pride he didn’t have left getting damaged while taking orders as he once would have. He wasn’t here for himself.  
“Oh, and one last thing, shave properly next time.”  
“Excuse me?” Brion asked at the seemly random comment. “I don’t remember hearing any regulations in that speech.  
“There are no regulations. I just can’t look at you without wanting to laugh. And I have a reputation to uphold. I don’t care if you grow a beard or shave clean, it just can’t be that.” It was the first tone of humor he had heard from a girl Brion guessed didn’t make many jokes.  
“And if I don’t?”  
“I will electrocute you.” The boy laughed until the shocked and frankly terrified face of Aleksis demanded his attention as he turned to form his brooding. “No, seriously Princeling. I will burn those lamb chops off of your face with lightning.”


	4. Chapter 3

###  **Chapter 3**

It takes three days to get to St. Hásán with the pace they were traveling at, and every night the group of cars made camp and Brion was given a posting on guard shifts. Everyone left him alone, his name never leaving the bed of that truck, always just referred to as ‘the new Noslīlika’, everyone content to leave him to his own devices. Everyone accepts Neki who appeared to be incapable of leaving him alone at any moment. Brion had often wondered if someone had replaced the boy’s blood with coffee because there was never a moment he was still or quiet. There was always a knee bouncing or a question being asked. Though Brion really didn’t mind. After the communal living of the past months, he wasn’t sure ‘quiet’ would have felt right in his body again.

“So,” Neki asked, mouth full of bread one night when we stopped setting up camp to eat dinner. “You really haven’t told me where you're from, or even or name, or-or when did you get your powers?” He waited anxiously, bouncing as he continues chewing. 

“How about we make it a trade,” Brion offered. “You answer a question I have, and I’ll  _ try _ and answer a question you have?” He agreed almost instantly. “What kind of name is Neki?” The older boy asked with a sort of laugh.

“Well, it’s actually Nikolai.” He admitted, looking down embarrassed. “But I was running after one of the convoys leaving St. Hásán to join up with these guys but I tripped and bit my tongue, so when I went to tell them my name it came out Nekolai instead and they have called me Neki ever since.” Full body laughs racked Brion’s body, laughter that soon Neki joined in on. “Come on, it’s not that funny.” He pleaded. 

“I am so sorry to tell you this, but it is.” 

“Alright, alright.” Neki threw his hands up, “My turn to ask.” Brion settled down and waited. “What’s your name, Noslīlika?” 

Brion had been trying to figure out if he has supposed to tell anyone for days now. Audra didn’t give him instructions but also didn’t mention that the exiled prince was running perimeter checks once every night. “B.” He finally responded. 

“No, come on. Your real name.” He demands for a moment before shrinking back down. “Unless this is something like how we all call Audra Audra when we aren’t sure that’s her real name.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well I mean it would be really coincidental if the girl who can summon lighting was named after a storm, don’t you think?” Brion hadn’t thought about it that way. “I talked to one of the men from the last village we saved, he said that some Noslīlika lost their names in the tar. Did you lose your name too?” 

“No,” Brion promised. "I didn’t lose my name. I’m just not ready to tell you all of it yet.” The two of them sat in silence eating for a while, Brion thinking back to memory had tried  _ very  _ hard to bury, Jace saying that they died when they drowned and were reborn. 

“Hey, why do people call me and Audra Noslīlika?” 

“Well,” He looked away, becoming the most still Brion had seen the boy. “We had to call you guys something.”

“Well then, why not just Meta-human?” 

“The word started getting thrown around in the summer when everything that the Barron did became public in his trial. When we found out you guys were drowned, and not all came back up, everyone started calling the ones who did miracles. But apparently, one of the kids who made it out went home and told his town what had happened, everything the news didn’t say and people started to realize that it wasn’t a blessing or a curse, that it was horrible for both the living and dead. So they started calling them the drowned. Kids that traded their lungs for power.” 

Neki didn’t look Brion in the eyes after he answered. Finally, everything began to fit into place. Why no one bothered him. Why everyone followed Aurda’s orders. Because in some way, both of them had fought a private war against Barran Bedlem. And by standing here, free and alive, both had won. And we had beat him once, so they must believe we can do it again. 

“Alright,” Neki said after a long while. “My turn.” 

“What do you mean your turn I have-”

“You just did. I told you why we call you Noslīlika.” Brion agreed after a long minute of staring the younger boy down. “Where are you from?” 

“Down south.” He admitted, not knowing the response he would get after Aleksis. 

“Really?” Neki asked in astonishment. “What does the sea feel like?” 

Something twisted in Brion’s gut as he tried to wrapped his head around the small, innocent question. The idea of someone never having felt the ocean was completely foreign to someone who grew up on a palace island surrounded by it, and yet it made sense all the same. “Harsher than a river, cold as spring rain.” The young boy at there for minutes, eyes closed and Brion knew he was imaging waves crashing up against this legs. “Now, that was two answers, so I think in all fairness. I should get two questions.” Before the boy could protest though, the glowering face of Audra appeared before them. 

“Come with me.” She said, Brion, getting to his feet and shoving the rest of his rations in his coat pocket, promise to be back to get his two answers soon. 

They walked through the line of cars for a while, people staring up from conversations as the very angry-looking Audra was tailed by Brion who wore a lost puppy expression the whole time. The two of them reached the edge of the make-shift camp and continues on walking, deep into the woods they had been traveling through for days now until the sounds of people washed away. “We need to talk.” She finally said, pushing Brion down on a fallen log with a little more force than strictly needed. 

“I got the impression.” He muttered, trying to find a comfortable way to sit. 

Audra paced around, crushed sticks and leaves under her, putting words together in her mind before she spoke. “We’ll reach St. Hásán tomorrow afternoon.” She didn’t say anything for a while after that but moved to sit next to Brion. It was the closest that he had ever been to her and he noticed the air around her body hung just as heavy as it did on the road two days ago before she called down lightning. As if her body was always ready to fight. 

“Ok,” He prompted after a while of silence. 

“No one has really put it together who you are yet. All that the civilians say was a bunch of fire from where they were and the fighters were just so happy for no casualties, they decided to not think about it too much. That won’t be the case within the city. Besides, it’s not like people don’t know your face, everyone’s just too preoccupied to care much.” Some part of him knew where this was going, and the other was more confused than ever. “Not everyone is going to like the idea of Southern Prince in St. Hásán. Some might look past it because you're Noslīlika, others won’t care. I can’t ensure that you will be safe there.” 

“You care about my safety?” 

“Yeah, kind of.” She looked down. “My grandfather was in the military most of his life, he raised me to love both King and Country, wich is rare for someone born so for up north. I’m not going to bow to you are anything, but I think a united Markovia is better than a divided one, even if there are some growing pains.” Her eyes met his, and this time lacking the ferocity of a storm. “I think if we all make it out of here someone like you, a southern prince that cared enough to come up north and fight, might make that possible.” 

Her words sat heavy in the air between them for a long while. No one had ever talked about Brion like that, it was a side effect of being the second son. His brother was the future of his country always, the glowing beacon for something a little better like their father was when he was their age. The idea that is girl could have some faith in a future where he helped build it-well, it took a minute to sink into the young man. 

“Thank you.” 

“Don’t thank me. I don’t know what kind of man you are yet so don’t count on me making you a king or anything. Besides, we will probably all die before any of that becomes relevant.” 

They stayed out there in the woods, away from the main group, for what was the batter part of an hour, Aurda explaining the different factions residing in St. Hásán and what they ultimately wanted. When they did return, Neki pulled him aside and demanded to know everything that happened. Apparently, Audra didn’t talk much, and never in private like that. 

“Just some Noslīlika business.” Brion replayed. 


	5. Chapter 4

###  **Chapter 4**

Brion had visited St. Hásán once as a boy, his mother’s family owned a summer home not far east of the city limits. He and his siblings would sometimes spend the first half of the summer there, though they were only allowed to go into town once when he was 10. Driving closer, he couldn’t have imagined how much it had changed. The city, as Brion had remembered it, was filled with brightly painted townhouses and dark shackled slanted roofs and big open squares scented by intricately designed fountains. The beauty of the city had been replaced with the aftermath of indecency. 

Inns, restaurants, and homes abandoned by those who had once lived there had labels painted next to the door in black spray paint.  _ Devas, Medicīiskā, Reģistrācija  _ repeated over and over again. As they drove deeper into the city until finally the parade stopped and people began getting out. Brion had been in a truck with Deki and the girl from before, Maria, all morning, but neither had told him what to do once they reached the city. 

Brion was directed towards the civilians that were grabbing their positions from the back of random cars and told to take them with Aleksis to a registration building. Their outlets wrote down their names, where they were coming from, ages, and any family they couldn’t account for. The whole system functioned like a well-oiled machine, one that brought no comfort to Brion. How long had his country been like this? He couldn't help being questioned as the line of people grew smaller and smaller. Brion didn’t know where they went from the small registration building he guessed was once a cafe. He couldn’t help but wonder if his brother knew of any of this, or if Gregor was blind to the affairs of the Valley just as much as Brion was while in America. 

“Hey!” Aleksis called after him once the last of the civilians were processed, and looking happy at all to speak with Brion. “Audra wanted to talk to you once you were done.” 

“Where is she?” 

“How the hell would I know?” 

“You had to know she was looking for me somehow.” 

The older boy glowered at Brion for a moment before sighing. “I think she went to the main library, Princeling, where all of the faction leaders meet.” And with that he left, dipping between buildings and hurrying out of sight. 

Brion set off wondering, looking from building to building trying to figure out which one looked the most like a library, not wanting to pull attention by asking one of the many people wandering the street, he guessed equally as confused as he was at the moment. 

“Hey, Noslīlika!” Someone called after what had seemed like hours. Brion turned to see Maria of all people. They had, at this point, spent well over 20 hours in the bed of a truck together, and yet he knew nothing of the shorter girl. Others around them turned their heads to her, and finally to Brion once they released she was yelling after him. “Nothing to see here!” She said to no one imparticular. “Audra was getting worried, though you wondered all the way back down south,” Maria said once she closed the distance between them. 

“Audra doesn’t seem like the kind of person to show worry,” Brion said with a slight smirk, remembering the duality he had witnessed in the girl last night.

“Yeah your right,” She admitted. “Everyone’s ears just start to pop around her when something is wrong and she kept asking Aleksis if he had actually passed the message along before coming himself.”

“Oh, he passed the message,” Brion said with false glee. “Just not the directions to the Library.” The girl had barely spoken to him up to this point, it was strange to him how easy she was to talk to. 

“Well then,” She said, turning the opposite direction he had been heading. “I guess I will just have to valiantly save you from your own lack of direction.”

“I would be so grateful.” 

The two walked again in silence for a long while, Maria navigating the streets like their map was written in her blood. She must have taken notice if she started, “I used to go to school here.” 

“Oh, really?” 

“Yeah,” She said after a moment, mind wandering off to better times he had guessed. “The university here is pretty small, but it has one of the best medical programs in the region. Most of the professors and students left when things started getting bad. Now I use my three years of med school patching up these dumbasses.” Brion hadn’t realized how much older she was than the rest of them. Maris had to be in her mid-twenties, far older than what he suspected for Aleksis and Audra. 

“You wanted to be a doctor?” He asked. 

“Yeah, peds.” She let out a tired sigh that shouldn't have come from such a youthful young woman. “Well, I have enough kids to look after here with you a lot. And hey, maybe someday I’ll graduate and get my license.” Her words were more sad than hopeful and left them in silence among the streets for what seemed like an eternity for she finally stopped them in front of a beautifully ornate building. “Audra should be waiting in there for you.” 

“Thanks for the save, I think I would have still been wondering if it wasn’t for you.” 

“It was fun switching up the cliche, I have to say, peasant girl rescuing the Prince.” She gave a slight smirk before grabbing something out of her pocket. A green scrap of fabric like the ones tied around the arms of everyone they traveled with. “Just so they know your one of us now, Brion.” 

“My hero.” He smiled at her as she tied it around his arm. 

“And don’t you forget it.” She moved to leave, but he grabbed gently her wrist. 

“How long have you known?”

“I’m not blind. Besides, what other self-respecting teenager grows sideburns.” She laughed for a moment, shaking her head. “Though of course, what teenager is self-respecting? I heard Audra had to order you to shave them off.” 

He lifted his hand and traced it along his jaw in playful sadness. “I can still feel them sometimes.” 

“Go,” She nudges him in the direction of the doors. “You haven’t seen Audra mad yet, she may like you now, but I still wouldn’t keep her waiting.” She moved to leave, and Brion didn’t stop her this time. Brion walked up the front steps and threw open one of the main large doors, trying to imagine what he would find on the other side. 

The inside of the building was, Brion guessed, the last piece of the city that hadn’t been converted in some way. Besides form the occasional stack of unsorted books left with no one caring to put them back, it appeared to be a normal library, untouched by the chaos surrounding it. It was almost peaceful until Brion heard the angry shouting of an enraged Markovian woman that unlocked a new level of self-preservation within the boy and told him to run away as fast as he could. Brion, stupidly, ignored this instinct and trudged dipping into the building, finally stumbling upon a large back room that must have once been a place for study. Large oak tables had all been pushed to the center, now lying covered in a large map of his country, grey paint dabbed around the borders and in large Xs in some areas. Open Atlas with smaller maps of cities and regions sat opened, pieces of papers scribbled with notes looked thrown haphazardly around the room. Audra and Aleksis stood on the left side of the table, four men and one woman stood on the other, no one had noticed Brion’s presence yet.

“How could you even suggest an attack on the military?” Audra demanded. 

“How could we not? They have been steamrolling towns and massacring our people for months. If your right and the news is finally starting to cover this now, other nations are watching. If we do something drastic, we can get their attention.” The other woman, in her early thirties, countered.

“Oh, we’ll get their attention.” Aleksis cut in and, to Brion’s surprise, Audra didn’t kill him for it. “And the de Lamb will use the attack to say we are violent terrorists who need to be taken care of to ensure the safety of Markovia. If we don’t give him justification, the international community can treat what he is doing as what it is, a crime against humanity.” 

Brion had to admit the older boy had a point, but he also knew that politics, expectantly international, were rarely that straightforward and that diplomatic immunity could really be a bitch sometimes. “So, you want us to keep trying to move people faster than the military does until the world decides to care enough?” 

“No,” Audra spoke, sending a ringing sound through Brion’s head for a moment, by the wincing of the others and how they stepped back slightly, they had felt it too. Marie wasn’t lying about the whole ear thing he guessed. “We need to give them a reason to trust us, so when we do fight back, he can’t so easily turn our actions against us.” 

“And how would you suggest we do that?” One of the men asked.

Audra’s only reply was to casually turn her head, and look Brion in the eyes. Everyone else followed, recognition hitting in different waves and ending with either anger or confusion, sometimes both. “Brion, this is Sasha, Ivars, Zanuis, Juris, and Andran. The group leaders I was talking about last night.” Audra introduced them, pointing to them in turn like they were her old friends, not extremely hostile-looking adults that were yelling at her a minute ago. 

“What is this, Noslīlika?” The man from before, Zanuis, demanded, his face twisting in disguises as he turned from me to the smirking girl.

“I know there is not a lot up in that head of yours, but I think you would know your Prince’s face.” Aleksis and Audra had washed away as much of the road as they could, and while everyone else in the room looked a little tattered around the edges, if a complete stranger was told to look into the room and find royalty Brion doubted he would be their first pick. And yet, Brion also knew their delayed realization probably hadn’t come from the amount of dirt and grime covering his face and jacket, it was the fact none of them believed a Prince, their Prince, would care enough to offer help. How had his forefathers abandoned these people? 

“De Lamb was able to seize power so easily because none of the nobility that would have spoken out against him believed there was another option.” Audra went on explaining. “If we promote our factions under a united front with Brion as the head, at least to the public, we may get enough support from the South or even neighboring nations to get supplies and legitimize what we are trying to do.” The five grumbles but didn’t argue to any point she had made, though Brion notices Aleksis looks just as displeased as the others. 

“So what then?” Juris questioned after a long silence. “We fight to take de Lamb down only to hand the government over to another King?” 

“I have no ambitions of the ruling,” Brion said, stepping forward with little grace or confidence. “I just want to help.” 

“We’ll need to discuss the specifics,” Sasha said. And with that, they came to an agreement. 


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people of the internet! I know I don't write long chapters to begin with (I'm working on that), but this one is a little longer than what you are used to from me. There are two parts that that I wrote too much on each but not enough to make separate chapters. Any way I hope you enjoy, happy reading!

**Chapter 5**

Brion walked out into the cold, early spring night after what seemed like hours of negotiating for such a vague arrangement. Everyone appeared to hate everyone a little more than when they had begun and the other five went their separate ways the moment we had ended, leaving him, Audra, and Aleksis standing on the front steps, wrapping their heads around what they had just done. It took Brion a minute to understand that the three of them had gotten what they wanted in the end, corruption for a year between the four factions while they placed him as a public figurehead, seeing if that gained them the favor of any possible allies. Brion had also gotten the answer to a question he had been asking himself for days now, why did Audra allow Aleksis to stay even when he questioned her at every move. 

Aleksis had, minus budding in a few times, ran the negotiations and talked circles around the others the whole time, and though he seemed less than pleased about it now, didn’t show any disdain about what he was promoting in front of the others. He may have been a disobedient asshole at times, but he was Audra’s disobedient asshole, and Brion guessed that was all that mattered, being valuable enough to someone for the rest to matter anymore.

“So,” Audra broke the silence. “Think you can live with that, Brion?” 

He couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at the inconsquial nature of the question. “Does it matter if I say no?”

“Well,” She said, a sly smile picking at the ends of her lips. “You did say you wanted to help any way you could.” Aleksis and Audra held and weighted glaze for a second before both nodding, Aleksis turning a heading into the night. “Come on,” Audra said, turning in the opposite direction. “I’ll show you where we’re staying.” 

As they walked on, Brion became privy to the fact that the only light came from the rather full moon. “Why aren’t any of the street lights on?” He asked after a long while of silence. 

“There are better things to waste electricity on,” Audra replied causality as if everyone had to make that decision. 

Brion, fighting the lump in his throat asked a question he had been wounding since he stumbled up that village three days ago, one he feared the answer to. “How long has this been going on?” 

The girl, walking in front of him so he couldn’t get a good view of her face, stayed quiet for a long time before choking out. “You need to be more specific.” She gestured around her. “People started using St. Hásán has been neutral for about a month now. Everyone from the east that has their village destroyed typically comes here first. They can either stay, leave to find family, or meet up with a few couriers trying to get people out into Romania or Valtava, but most people can’t afford them.” 

A month. “What about the military acting on de Lambs orders?”

“You're wondering if your brother knew?” Brion nodded before releasing that she couldn't’ hear them, but she didn’t need an answer to continue. “I don’t think your brother knew, but it happened during his rule. That’s when things started getting really bad. Outpost kicking people out of their homes, stealing farmland. But I wouldn’t blame him for that. The military has been doing stuff like that for years, your father couldn’t stop them either.” 

The idea hadn’t truly occurred to Brion yet that de Lamb had been corrupting the military for years, that the coup he was planning didn’t start with the murder of the King and Queen. 

“What did they do?” He finally asked the bitterness in the words scaring the boy after he heard them. “What did they do before that was normal for you?” 

“They would come by some days and take things they wanted. Food, boos, whatever we had. But they didn’t hurt anyone and didn’t even take enough that we had nothing left. It had become a natural occurrence. My town didn’t get hit as bad because I'm- well it doesn't matter why. Things started getting bad after the Princess-after your sister was taken. They came around taking names, family history, and blood samples from everyone.”

She didn’t need to say why, he knew they were looking for those with the meta-gene, people that his uncle could turn into weapons of profit. Mother of God, he thought he was going to be sick. “Hey,” She called him after a while. “Remember that deal we made, the one about shame?” 

“Yeah, why?” He spat out, not able to contain the anger that had been building inside of him. 

“Good, because it looked like you were beginning to forget it.” 

“Oh? And why is that?”

She turned to face him, halting their pace and she looked him over with the same cold and callous face from when they first met. “Oh, I don’t know? Maybe because your eyes are starting to glow and the white of your eyes are beginning to look a little less white.” The boy turned his head and caught a muted reflection off of a dirty shop window, stumbling back as he released she was correct. It was nothing big, hardly noticeable, but they were different from before.

“Try breathing.” He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, his chest and lungs screaming with pain as he did so.  _ What was happening to him?  _ “We need to work on controlling that anger.” 

“I’ve tried.” He let out a hopeless sigh, trying to remember every lesson that Conner had taught him over the past few months to no avail. 

“Has it gotten worse?” She asked. “Since you got your powers?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Mine did.” Her tone softened slightly. “I’m good at the big things. I can bring on a storm that rips houses from their foundations without much thought but pulling on one singular bolt, a pointed gust of wind. That's the hard shit.” She admitted and, to Brion’s surprise, it became easier to breathe and, in the reflection, he noticed his eyes return slowly back to their normal, natural state. “And I don’t know why, my tempers like that too now. It’s all big reactions to small things, like I was incapable of managing it into one, small response.” 

He reminded me how when he first got his powers, they seemed easier to activate. He thought that meant he was powerful, but he hadn’t noticed that the power hadn’t come with control. “Losing control is easy.” He whispered out a tight jaw. 

“It is,” She agreed. “But we can’t lose control, can we? We both are walking talking natural catastrophes.” He had to laugh at that and before long Brion noticed Audra had joined in. “Come on, we need to keep moving.” She shot him one last smile before stealing her features, erasing any small glimpse at the ease she portrayed a moment ago. “I don’t know if those other leaders told their people about you yet.” Brion’s mind drifted back to the conversation the night prior and they both started walking until they reached the gates of St. Hásán University on the edge of town. 

As they walked, Audra began to explain what parts of the campus had been converted into places they needed. The medical buildings were infirmaries for both them and the civilians they brought in. The dorms were converted into small apartments like homes where families were beginning to be set up. Moth buildings were empty or used as storage, but the Natural Science wing was there where they slept and lived, ‘the pit’ they had started calling it. “But really,” She went on explaining as she unlocked the heavy oaked doors and let him into the building he thought must have once been beautiful. “It’s the closest thing most of us have to a home anymore.” 

She promised to give a proper tour in the morning before renting a lecture hall that had been converted into a sleeping area. Sheets hung over spread-out tables on the cascading tiers of the room, a platform at the bottom where Brion guessed a professor would have once taught from held the rest of the tables posited in a large rectangular surrounded by countless chairs. Audra led Brion down the bottom of the room, where an unoccupied table sat, he was instructed to wait there silently until she finally returned with three blankets and a pillow. He didn’t take time like the others to arrange a private space for himself, only wrapped the blanket around him and let sleep take him. 

* * *

* * *

**The Hub**

**Hollywood, California**

**2 March 02:42**

The zeta-tube werring to life pronouncing the arrival of both Superboy and Black lightning didn’t wake any of the Hub’s residences. But the pounding on the door belonging to Brion Markov echoing through the night and the repetitive calling of his name did. 

“What's going on?” Garfield asked, sleep heavy in both his voice and eyes as he stepped out of his room to meet whatever was interrupting his sleep, the others quickly following suit with the same tired pace. Neither man responded as the half-Kryptonian lost his patient, pushing the door open, snapping its lock with ease, rushing in to find the room abandoned. “What’s wrong? Is Brion ok?” Gar demanded again, looking to the two speechless outlets as the two men processed the repercussions of what this meant. 

“No,” Jefferson answered, trying his best to not meet the already worn faces of Tara and Gregor. “Go downstairs and sit down, we need to talk.” The six teenagers complained, leaving the still fuming Conner to calm down in the room, thoughts of  _ what if _ running through his mind faster than he could stop to pounder on a single one. 

“Look, um.” The man struggled to find his words, forced to look at all of these kid’s faces as he told them their friend most likely just signed his death certificate, and there was nothing they could do to help him. “The watchtower received a notification that a boom tube was activated from the lab where the mother box we rescued from Granny was being stored.” 

“What does this have to do with our brother?” The young blonde girl asked, despite part of her already knowing the answer, her older brother wrapping an arm around her shoulder, pulling her tight to him, bracing for reality to be spoken. 

“The tube messed with the cameras, but the Zeta logs show Brion entering the tower a few minutes before the alert was detected, and he is no longer on the Watchtower.” As the others slowly understood when happened, each succumbed to a different emotion. Sadness, denial, anger. 

“He went to Markovia?” Gregor asked, cursing under his breath remembering when his twin proposed the idea last week once Jeff agreed it was his most likely destination.

“Look, I don’t know a lot about politics and how all of this works and everything,” Vic added. “But won’t they kill him there? I mean that's what you guys said when we were talking about going in two weeks ago, right?” The silence was answer enough for the boy who slumped back in defeat. 

Connor returned from upstairs carrying two pieces of paper, one in markovian and the other in English, and wordlessly handed each to Gregor and Gar who both read them, a new tangle of emotions surging through them. “Can we get him out? We couldn’t go in before because we were attacking the government, but this is a retrieval, not an assault.” 

“I don’t think you can even get past the border.” Peirce went on explaining. “And if you do get caught, Bedlam will be able to trial you under Markovian for being unregistered and foreign meta-humans, but the Outsiders will lose any respect with world leaders you guys have gained, they may even ban.” 

“Plus,” Gar said, passing the English note to Vik. “He asked us not to follow him.” 

“Yeah well,” Vik snatched the note, glimpsing over the words. “That doesn’t mean we should listen.” 

“They have a point,” Gregor spoke quietly. “It may not be worth the risk.” 

“Worth the risk, man, that's your brother!” 

“Which is why I know Brion won’t have jumped into this without understanding the consequences.” 

“I hate to tell you this, but your brother is a bit of a hothead with a streak of rushing into things.” Vik countered. 

“Forager can attest to this.” He jumped into the exchange. “Forager and Violet Harper went with him to shadow island with no plan.” 

Glancing his gaze down, Gregor sighed. “I know, but he was different before all of this started. I don’t like the idea of not helping him, but you guys going in now might make it worse. If you find him and force him back here, he’ll just hate all of us forever. And if you go and get caught, my uncle will use you as leverage to make Brion give himself up or if he finds resistance, turn against him. And Gar, think about what de Lamb could do if he was able to force Perdita to give supplies or allegiance in exchange for your safety.”

“Perdita wouldn’t agree to that, she’s a queen before she’s my girlfriend.” 

“Let’s not test that in practice,” Gregor countered, pulling the now trembling Tara closer to him. “I won’t ask any of you to go after me brother for our sake. All of you have already given me one miracle in returning Tara, I can’t expect another one. If Brion has made this choice, I will choose to respect that.” 

No one talked after that. They all just sit around the large couch, too preoccupied with their thoughts to carry out a conversation. Conner left to tell the other adults of what had happened and Jeff to check on the processing of the video feed so they could be sure that was where he went. Gar pulled out his phone and typed up a message on the group chat with his older teammates. 

_ When you wake up,  _

_ head to the hub.  _

_ Something happened  _

_ that we need to talk about.  _

The six of them sat there in silence until the sun began to rise and the day began, trying to come to peace with the idea their friend would most likely die without them there to even try and save him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this literacy catastrophe I like to call the Prince of Embers that was born out of my inability to take a Cold War class and not think of my favorite Slavic babies and my unbridled rage at the lack of information given on Markovia in young justice and DC comics as a whole. A few disclaimers to ensure you have a favorable reading experience going forward. "Markovian" in the show is essentially Latvian put through a blender of accents and pronunciations, so I don't feel that bad about using google translate. Secondly, this story will focus on what is happening in Markovia and not so much on the Outsiders. Though a few chapters will be spent talking about what is happening with them as a result, if you are looking for a team-centric fic this is not the story for you. Lastly, I have been taking courses on Eastern European history for a while now, but there is a massive difference between academic knowledge of regional culture and an understanding of how it affects everyday life in modern times. Since this is a fictional country I will be making some stuff up as I go, but if I am offensive at any point in time, please call me out on it so I can fix/never make that mistake again.  
> Well, I think that is it for today kiddos. I hope you enjoy the story so far and I look forward to writing more stuff for you.  
> P.S. I promise notes will always be this long.


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